Joshua Barney American The Assault on Washington

Joshua Barney went to sea while still quite young, commanding his first ship while still a teenager. He later served in the Revolutionary War as a captain of some privateers. Barney also served in the French Navy between 1796 and 1802, rising to the rank of commodore. In 1812, Barney enjoyed remarkable success at privateering; taking eighteen British vessels that year. In 1813, he submitted a plan for the defense of the Chesapeake Bay area to the Secretary of the Navy, who subsequently offered Barney command of the American flotilla of gunboats at Baltimore. In August of 1814, in conjunction with their attack on Washington, the British succeeded in bottling Barney’s flotilla up the Patuxent River. When they came after him in overwhelming numbers, Barney destroyed his boats rather than letting them fall into enemy hands. Barney and his flotillamen immediately made their way to Bladensburg in an attempt to stop the British Army’s march on Washington. At the battle of Bladensburg, Barney and his men were the only ones to stand fast before the British. Barney was wounded in the thigh and taken prisoner. He died in Pittsburgh in 1818.